Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on April 16, 2012 under Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL)


BASEBALL

Frontier League: Officials in Parkersburg (WV) plan to discuss the possibility of placing a Frontier League franchise in the city. A former Frontier League team called the Ohio Valley Redcoats was based in Parkersburg for six seasons (1993-98). A couple of weeks ago, developers in Bridgeport (WV), just south of Morgantown, announced plans to build a ballpark for another Frontier League team that could start play in the 2014 season.

North American League: The new owner of the NAL's Yuma Panthers team has acquired the league's Orange County Flyers (Fullerton, CA) franchise. It appears as though the Flyers will be the fourth team in the 2012 Northern Division, which includes the Panthers, the Na Koa Ikaika Maui, and the expansion San Rafael Pacifics. The NAL also has a six-team Southern Division for 2012, but that division operates under separate ownership and will not play Northern Division teams in 2012. The Lake County (IL) Fielders team, which was part of the 2011 NAL and is in a dispute with the city of Zion over a proposed new stadium, has confirmed the team will not be part of the NAL or any other league in 2012.

Carolina League: If the Lynchburg (VA) Hillcats of the high Class-A Carolina League move to a proposed new ballpark in Wilmington (NC) there is speculation the team's parent club, the Atlanta Braves, could move the Danville (VA) Braves of the rookie-level Appalachian League to Lynchburg.

BASKETBALL

West Coast Basketball League: The WCBL has posted a revised list of eight teams that will be part of the 2012 spring season. The Los Angeles area teams include the Central Coast Surf, High Desert Spartans, Hollywood Shooting Stars, Long Beach Rockets, Nationwide AllStars, Santa Barbara Breakers, Santa Monica Jump, and West Los Angeles Advantage.

World Basketball Association Exposure League: The WBA Exposure League plans to hold tryouts later this month for its 2012 spring-summer season. The league currently has seven teams listed-the Cobb Storm (Marietta, GA), Conyers (GA) Court Kings, Gwinnett (GA) Majic, Maulding Star S.C. (Greenville, SC), Rome (GA) Gladiators, and an unnamed team in Birmingham (AL).

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: The AIF held a game between the Virginia Badgers and the Harrisburg Stampede in York (PA) to test that market for a possible 2013 team.

United Indoor Football League: It appears that the UIFL's Rome Rampage travel team will be replaced by the semi-pro Chattahoochee Valley Vipers (Phenix City, AL) for the three remaining Rampage road games on the 2012 schedule. The Vipers are part of the semi-pro Southern 8-Man Football League, which plays outdoor football under eight-man indoor rules.

Lingerie Football League-United States: The LFL has announced that the LFL-US will switch from a fall-winter season to a spring-summer season. The LFL-US will not have a 2012-13 season and will sit idle until April 2013. The LFL-US has played a fall-winter schedule for the past three seasons (2009-2012). The LFL plans to start its LFL Canada in August 2012 and its LFL Australia in the summer of 2013.

Lady Arena Football League: The new LAFL has announced its inaugural 2012 regular season will include four teams playing an eight-week regular season from May 19 to July 7. Teams include the Houston Lady Panthers, Los Angeles Rideretts, New Orleans Lady Dollz, and the Texas Mighty Diamonds. Teams will play eight-on-eight full contact indoor football wearing lingerie-style uniforms.

Women's Football Alliance: The WFA has started its 2012 spring season with 60 teams aligned into 17 regional divisions. The Kentucky Karma (Louisville), Dayton Diamonds, Atlanta Heartbreakers, Spokane Scorn, So Cal Scorpions, Northeastern Nitro (Danbury, CT), and the Erie Illusion did not return from last season. The league has added eight new teams called the Tallahassee Jewels, Valley Vipers, West Coast Lightning (Riverside), Tacoma Trauma, Utah Jynx, Atlanta Phoenix, Derby City Dynamite, and Maine Lynx. Several teams have changed names since last season. The Tampa Bay Pirates became the Inferno, the Memphis WTF was renamed the Dynasty, the Tulsa Eagles were renamed the Threat, the Little Rock Wildcats became the Arkansas Wildcats, and the Central Florida Anarchy became the Orlando Anarchy.

Independent Women's Football League: The IWFL has started its spring 2012 season with 26 full-schedule teams aligned into 8 regional divisions. Gone from last season are the Maine Rebels, Monterrey (Mexico) Black Mambas, Chattanooga Locomotion, Clarksville Fox, Georgia Stingerz (Savannah), North Texas Knockout, Tennessee Valley Tigers, and Southern California Breakers. New full-schedule teams include the Connecticut Wreckers (Danbury), Arkansas Banshees, Arlington (TX) Impact, Phoenix Phantomz, Rockford Riveters, along with the Erie Illusion and Northeastern Nitro (Schenectady, NY) from the Women's Football Alliance.

Women's Spring Football League: The WSFL has started its 2012 season with an eight-team Elevens conference (eleven-player teams) aligned into three regional divisions and an eight-team Eights conference (eight-player teams) aligned into three regional divisions.

HOCKEY

Central Hockey League: The CHL has announced a new Denver-based franchise will join the league for the 2012-13 season. The Denver area had two recent CHL teams called the Colorado Eagles (Loveland), which left for the ECHL after eight seasons (2003-11) in the CHL, and the Rocky Mountain Rage (Bloomfield), which lasted only three seasons (2006-09) before folding.

Southern Professional Hockey League: The owner of the Biloxi-based Mississippi Surge team in the Single-A SPHL is trying to obtain the rights to the Sea Wolves nickname from the ECHL. A former Biloxi-based team called the Mississippi Sea Wolves (1996-2005, 2007-09) was part of the ECHL, but suspended operations after the 2008-09 season. The Mississippi Surge started play in the SPHL the following season. The owner of the Surge also stated the team needs an increase in season ticket sales in order to continue in the league.

North American Hockey League: The Junior Hockey News reports that the Tier II junior-level NAHL has a potential ownership group interested in placing an NAHL team in Brookings (SD) for the 2012-13 season. Also, new ownership was in the process of purchasing the league's Springfield (MO) Junior Blues team and keeping it in Springfield for the next three years.

Northeast Junior Hockey League: Several teams affiliated with the independent International Junior Hockey League (IJHL) during the 2011-12 season have jumped to the new NJHL, which plans to start play in 2012-13 under an affiliation with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Former IJHL teams now in the NJHL include the Cape Cod Islanders, New England Stars, Junior Mariners, Eastern Kodiaks, Trenton Habs, and Syracuse Stampede. The IJHL had an annual meeting and plans to continue playing during the 2012-13 season even with the loss of these teams.

SOCCER

National Premier Soccer League: The West Region teams of the men's NPSL have started their 2012 season with a six-team Southern Conference and a six-team Northern Conference. Some of the new teams for 2012 in these conferences include the Fullerton Rangers, Futbol Club Santa Clarita, San Francisco Stompers, and North Coast Tsunami. Schedules for the 30-plus teams in the Midwest, South, and Northeast regions start next month.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The Empire United Soccer Academy (Empire USA) has announced it will field a team called the Empire United-Syracuse in the 2012 WPSL. The league's Salt Lake City Sparta United club has announced a partnership with the men's Real Salt Lake team in Major League Soccer. The WPSL team will be renamed the Salt Lake United. The Salt Lake United becomes the second WPSL team with an MLS partnership, as the WPSL's FC Dallas entered into a partnership with the men's FC Dallas team in the MLS prior to last season.

Premiere Ligue de Soccer du Quebec: The Quebec Soccer Federation has started the inaugural 2012 season of the new Premiere Ligue with five teams called FC L'Assomption, AS Blainville, FC Brossard, FC Boisbriand, and Saint-Leonard FC. The Premiere Ligue is a Division 3 league, the highest level of soccer in Quebec. Teams will play 16 league games from April 15 to October 21, 2012.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the "leagueology almanac" known as "Leagues, Teams & Nicknames", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The latest 2010-11 edition is available at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/leagues-teams-nicknames-the-leagueology-almanac-2010-11/15228513. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.

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Ultimate Indoor Football League Stories from April 16, 2012


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